For years now Public Health England has stated again and again that E-Cigarettes are MUCH better than cigarettes. In fact they have assured time and time again that e-cigs are at least 95% less harmful than cigarettes!
For those who don’t know, Public Health England (or PHE for short) is an independent government agency focused on the health and well being of the country. They advise and provide evidence to local governments and Parliament on health-related matters, such as smoking.
Professor Kevin Fanton, the Director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England stated that smoking is still England’s number one killer, and the best thing for you as a smoker is to just throw that habit behind you immediately. “E-cigs are not 100% risk free, but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry a fraction of the harm”.
Through the years though PHE has continued to support e-cigarettes, recently they released a statement trying to combat some of the myths and fake facts surrounding e-cigarettes. They have also set up demonstrations to show how much difference there is between the vapour from an e-cigarette and the smoke on the lungs, to shocking results.
But it’s not just PHE that thinks e-cigarettes are much better for you, the NHS, Cancer research UK and others all think the same.
Today we are going to have a look at why Public Health England has such faith in e-cigarettes and their harmlessness compared to cigarettes.
No toxins, harmful chemicals, or carcinogens in UK-made E-cigarettes
We all know that cigarettes are bad for us. But the amount of chemicals that can hurt a smoker in each cigarette is staggering.
According to Cancer Research UK and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, cigarettes contain over 5,000 chemicals. Other studies have shown that there could be up to 7000, depending on the cigarette brand!
What’s worse, over 50 of these ingredients are known to be carcinogens (chemicals which cause cancer) and another 400 are toxic to those who smoke them.
For just an example of the types of chemicals found in cigarettes:
- Arsenic
- Formaldehyde
- Tar
- Cyanide
There are thousands more, but just these should be enough to show how dangerous these chemicals are, after all 2 of these are literal poisons.
To read more about the chemicals in cigarettes - https://smoko.com/blogs/news/7-dangerous-chemicals-found-in-cigarettes
So what makes E-cigarettes different? The fact that there are only 4 ingredients in UK-made e-cigarettes, none of which are harmful to people.
The four ingredients in an e-cigarette are:
- Propylene Glycol
- Vegetable Glycerine
- Flavouring
- Nicotine
The first three of these, the flavouring, Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerine have been used in all matter of foods. The products are as far ranging as ice cream, chewing gum, sweets, salad dressing and more. They are common ingredients that either give food a more distinct flavour or thicken up whatever they are added to.
To read more about these ingredients click here - https://smoko.com/blogs/why-use-an-e-cigarette/what-s-inside-smoko-e-cigarettes-and-e-liquids
Nicotine is added for obvious reason, after all e-cigarette wouldn’t make a good way to make the switch from smoking without it!
But when people think of nicotine, they automatically think of cigarettes and the dangers that come with it. For many then nicotine is considered as bad as tobacco when that is just not the case.
However nicotine is not as bad as many people think, and in some cases can even help people, such as the evidence that nicotine may help stave off dementia.
Countries with good regulation, like the UK and EU, prohibit the inclusion of several harmful chemicals that have been used elsewhere - such as diacetyl, a flavouring associated with the condition 'popcorn lung'.
Nicotine is not as bad as everyone thinks
On its own nicotine is just a stimulant, an addictive one, but a chemical that wakes you up. It has been compared to caffeine in its effect on the human body.
It can also have some positives as well with some preliminary studies showing nicotine can help with mental diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, ADHD and more.
It does this as acts as neurotransmitter and binds to nerve receptors in the brain, making the brain nerve cells fire more frequently.
It has also been hinted at to help with other parts of the body as well, including the gut and the brain in general. These positives are not well known yet, but there is a growing amount of evidence to show that nicotine can be a positive for people.
We are not trying to say that nicotine is a new wonder chemical, but that on it’s own it should be treated like caffeine or any other chemical, useful but you shouldn’t have too much of it.
To read more about the positive nature of nicotine - https://smoko.com/blogs/health-and-well-being/is-nicotine-good-for-you
If nicotine is like caffeine though, why does even the word nicotine conjure up negative reactions?
A professor of tobacco addiction at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London called Ann McNeill started looking into this exact reaction, and came to the conclusion that "We need to de-demonize nicotine".
Professor Ann McNeill has spent her life looking at tobacco and addiction, and is trying to get everyone to start separating the dangers of tobacco from nicotine. If people are always associating nicotine with tobacco, other nicotine delivery products (like e-cigarettes) get tarred with the same brush is the worry.
One of the main reasons for this are the health campaigns around cigarettes of the 1970's and 80's which tied nicotine, addiction and cigarettes tightly together. Over this period nicotine was interchangeable with tobacco in advertising and general information.
At the time this made sense, nothing else but tobacco had nicotine in, but now with e-cigarettes this tight link between nicotine and tobacco is harming everyone.
To read more about the history of nicotine and why it is wrongly considered as dangerous as tobacco click here - https://smoko.com/blogs/why-use-an-e-cigarette/how-bad-is-nicotine-for-you
E-Cigarettes have been proven to be MUCH better than Cigarettes time after time
Its not just Public Health England that thinks that E-Cigarettes can are a much better option than cigarettes, the NHS, Cancer Research UK and hundreds of other studies have shown that e-cigs are much better.
The biggest one is the NHS, which suggests e-cigarettes for smokers looking to make the switch. They say that the vapour from cigarettes is not harmful at all!
Another backer of ecigarettes is Cancer research UK, who funded a study a few years back to see just what the difference between a smoker and an e-cigarette user is in regards to the amount of toxins in their body. They found that in some cases there was a 97% difference in toxin levels between cigarette and e-cig users!
Other studies have looked at what E-cigarettes can do for smokers suffering with COPD, and found that switching to e-cigarettes can all be eliminate the symptoms in some cases.
All the other studies agree that although using an e-cigarette isn’t a good as completely quitting (after all you are still taking something into your lungs, even if it is just water vapour from an e-cigarette) it is still a huge amount better than cigarettes.
So if you are a smoker, and have been worried about making the switch hopefully this helps, and maybe you can get started today with our great SMOKO VAPE POD starter kit deal!
